The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah has visited the national weightlifting team, the Black Cranes at their training at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Black Cranes are preparing feverishly for the African Weightlifting Championships, scheduled to be held in Morocco from the 28th of October to the 5th of November, 2013.
Addressing them, Hon. Afriyie-Ankrah reiterated his pledge to be a ‘minister for all sports’ and called to the team to lift high the flag of Ghana at the upcoming championships.
He said that Ghana had lots of potentials and looking at the talents at training, they would soon make their mark on the international stage. The Minister thus urged the team to put in maximum efforts to ensure good results.
In a related development, the Minister received sponsorships of sporting apparel and cash on behalf of the Ghana Weightlifting Association (GWA).
They are a cash donation of GHC5, 000 and a cheque for GHC15, 000 from Indomie Ghana Ltd; an assortment of sporting apparel and training shoes from Berlin Sports, distributors of ERKE products in Ghana; and a cash donation of GHC2, 000 from Mr Fred Darko, CEO of Evolution Ghana Ltd.
The Minister called on the various Associations to take bold initiatives in attracting sponsorships from corporate bodies for their activities to augment what the Ministry did.
Hon. Afriyie-Ankrah commended the three sponsors and used the occasion to appeal for more of such support from corporate entities.
The Managing Director of Berlin Investments, Mr Bernard Kingsley Annoh said the donation, which was a little token, was meant to boost the morale of the team and promised another bigger donation later, while the Chief Financial Officer of Indomie Ghana, Mr Mahesh Shah stated that his outfit was pleased to be associated with the weightlifters and congratulated the team for their performances so far.
The President of the GWA, Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah thanked all three sponsors for their support.
At the same function, the Minister also inspected work on a multi-purpose hall and gym being built by the Ghana Weightlifting Association at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Source: MOYS PR DEPT